Long Night
by rebekahlovessuperwholock
Summary: Buffy gets injured during a patrol, and naturally there's only one person she knows of that's nearby. Spike/Buffy, set some time distantly after "Intervention." Hopefully multichapter.
1. Chapter 1

Poof!

The last vamp of the night disappeared into a cloud of lovely dust.

"Finally," Buffy muttered under her breath. She had slipped up twice and now was left with a stab wound in both her right leg and her stomach. She was not exactly having fun today.

The walk home was quiet, as always, and the Slayer took in the lovely view of Sunnydale at night. It was pretty relieving after the recent fight. Until she felt a hand on her arm.

"Not in the mood tonight," she sighed, swinging her arm behind her. The blow knocked her attacker pretty far, but he was quick to get up.

_Whoever this stupid vamp is, _Buffy thought, _he should not have decided to mess with me. _

But before she could get a good kick in the stupid demon, he already had her in headlock. Reaching his open mouth towards her neck, he took a bite and started drinking.

Slayer instincts kicking in, Buffy knew she had to do something. Even though pain surged through almost every part of her body, she managed to pull out her stake and stab blindly behind her. Finally she felt the jaws of that vamp release as it disappeared.

With a groan, Buffy stumbled out of the alley she'd been dragged into and nearly fell over in the process.

"Guess home's a little too...far..." she gasped, trying to get a hold of herself. To her distaste, her mind calculated the only place that she could get to before dying: _Spike's crypt. _As if she wasn't already disgusted at the discovery of his "undying love" for her, Buffy never really had a soft spot for the guy. But even he was looking pretty good right now, considering the circumstances.

When she finally reached the graveyard, she was glad to see that the lights were glowing through the barely visible windows of the old place. Buffy stumbled over to the door and banged on it as loudly as she could.

"Don't have time to let you watch your bloody game, Clem!" the voice from inside shouted.

"Not Clem!" Buffy shouted back.

Silence.

Then rapid footsteps.

The door swung open to reveal the blonde vamp, whose face went from smug smile to extreme concern.

"What happened?" he asked, already bending down the help the slayer up.

"Long night," Buffy replied tiredly. "Look, can you just fix me up and let me outta here?"

Spike nodded, and helped her into his crypt and onto the couch. She winced as he laid her down, trying to sneak a caress of her hair in the process.

"You alright?" he asked gently.

"What do you think?" the Slayer spat back fiercely. Her voice softened. "Sorry; it just hurts a lot."

"What happened?"

Buffy thought for a moment. She wasn't sure whether or not to tell him the truth. She knew he'd see the bite on her neck, and there was no way she could make up some story about it and hope he believed it.

"Bad fight is all," she replied. "I'll be fine."

The vampire didn't reply. He just started inspecting the wound in her stomach. Buffy felt a shiver go through her body when she felt his hand lifting her shirt. She could tell he was being careful to lift it only enough to see her wound, but she still felt uncomfortable. He started cleaning it with the end of his shirt, but then he stopped.

"Be right back," he said quietly. "Need some things to clean this up."

The tall figure disappeared into the entrance to the basement (was it a basement?). Tired and still bleeding pretty steadily, Buffy waited as patiently as she could for Spike to reappear. She was about to yell for him when he finally jumped out of the little rabbit hole in the floor. She was starting to feel pretty dizzy at this point, and she wasn't really having the time of her life. But it looked like Spike had a good amount of proper bandaging with him, so she should be out of here in no time.

"This will almost definitely sting," he said softly. He pressed a wet cloth to the stomach wound. Whatever was on it, it did definitely sting. Buffy winced in pain as the burning filled her entire body. She felt the pain subside temporarily, but realized it has just moved to her leg. She figured she should probably tell him about the bite, otherwise she would end up losing a lot more blood than she already had. She didn't want any hospital crap. She just wanted to go home.

"There's something else," the Slayer said, trying to keep her best tough voice on. She pointed to the spot on the right side of her neck where the teeth marks were.

"Bloody hell," Spike said, raising his voice more this time. "You need to go to the hospital."

"No!" Buffy shouted. Then seeing him cringe at the sudden outburst, she said a little quieter, "No. I don't want them worrying about me. My friends. Dawn."

Spike only nodded to her. She guessed he didn't know what to say. He pressed the cloth to her neck and the searing pain started up again. But it didn't last long that time, maybe because the opening was smaller, so she relaxed a bit more. Now he was bandaging her, and the bleeding had stopped. But it was too late. She passed out.

Hazel eyes popped out from under the smudgy eyelids as Buffy took in her surroundings. She was in the same place as the night before (thank God), but now there was a blanket over her and some water and potato chips on an unstable table next to her. She pushed herself into a sitting position, forgetting her injury momentarily (it was really hard to forget after the feeling of scabs everywhere opening up starts to pulse through you). She almost cried out, but thankfully she didn't. Unfortunately, she saw dark, fresh red seeping through the bandages. _Oh great, _Buffy thought. _Now I'm stuck here. _She wanted so desperately to jump up and run out as fast as she could, but she knew that if she moved at all, any blood left in her system would just be gone. Now, come to think of it, though, she was thirsty. And hungry. And nauseous. And she _really _had to pee. And, not that she was thinking about that too, but she didn't see Spike anywhere. There was no way she was going to get up, and she couldn't just yell for his help. This entire situation was just a disaster. Maybe he was behind her and she just couldn't see. She craned her neck and turned around as much as she could without hurting the neck injury. Platinum blonde curls were peeking out from a blanket where a heap of Spike lay sleeping against the sarcophagus. He didn't seem so snarky and full of overall evil while sleeping; it seemed. He actually looked more peaceful. It was almost to Buffy as if he were a totally different person.

Silence.

Then the blanket fell off the leather duster as the vampire realized who was awake.


	2. Awakening

Buffy turned around as quietly as she could and decided to pretend like she was asleep. She would "wake up" if he came near her. As she closed her eyes, she heard footsteps and some sleepy grunts coming from the area where Spike once had slept. The footsteps grew closer and she heard the sounds of a small fridge opening. _Oh good, _she thought. _He's eating. Maybe he'll leave me alone for while. _But she was wrong. The footsteps got louder and louder, to the point where she was aware of the fact that the vampire was standing over her. She decided to take this opportunity to let her eyelids flutter open. As she did so, she already saw Spike start to back away slightly.

"Hey," he said lightly. "How are feeling?"

Buffy thought for a moment. She was actually feeling like total crap, but she decided to go with the nicer answer.

"Better," she told him. "But I really need the bathroom."

He laughed a little. But then he started talking and that's when Buffy knew that the snark was back.

"Figures," he said. "You humans with you bodily fluids."

"Can you please not say fluids ever again?" Buffy pleaded. Spike only replied with another laugh. Then he put his arms underneath hers and lifted her gently off the couch.

"Thanks, but I think I'm capable of walking now," the Slayer said, trying to free herself of that stupid vampire's grasp. He released her, and she stumbled along.

"Bathroom's down the hole," Spike shouted after her. Then he muttered, "Just in case you ever came 'round."

* * *

When Buffy had returned from her bathroom adventure, she found herself downing the glass of water from off the table, making some actually decent conversation with Spike. Of course, she had to ruin it with her rudeness.

"So how long do you think I'll be stuck in this dump?" she asked bluntly.

The now-angry vamp turned to her with death in his eyes (sarcastic death, of course.). "Might as well leave now with that attitude," he retorted.

The Slayer put her hand against her chest in mock surprise.

"Why, Spike! Your words are too painful to bare!" she giggled, but then added, "But seriously, when?"

"Pretty soon, I imagine," the blonde replied. Buffy only nodded. She didn't really know what to say. Then it hit her.

"Oh God," she breathed. "Dawn. Willow... they don't know where I am. I have to call them. Do you have a phone?"

"Sorry love, but I don't really need one," he said casually. "Wouldn't you have one with you?"

After some thinking, she finally replied with, "I did... but, well..." her voice trailed off as she reached a hand into her back pocket, revealing a crushed cluster of plastic and wires.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, I could help you outside and you could... oh wait. Sun's out."

There was an awkward silence that had settled over the two of them. Finally Buffy spoke.

"I can go out by myself."

Spike's head shot up from where he'd been staring at the floor.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he protested. "You're not going out there. Not in the shape you're in."

"I can walk," she replied. "And, slayer powers? Duh! I'll be fine. Now where's the nearest pay phone?"

Realizing there was no convincing her to stay, Spike relented. "Fine, you win. There's one about a block from here. Don't be too long."

The Slayer only nodded, and headed towards the door. _It's daylight anyway, _she thought. _No creatures of the night here. _She opened the door, careful not to let in too much light, and started on her way to that stupid pay phone.

When she finally reached it, she felt her pockets for change. There was a quarter stuck pretty far down in a blood-crusted spot, but it was reachable.

"Thank God," she muttered. She pushed the coin into the slot and dialed the house phone. Not surprisingly, a very flustered Dawn answered the phone.

"Hello?" she said in the phone. She sounded worried, for sure.

"Listen," Buffy replied. "It's your sister. Last night there was complications while patrolling. I'm fine, so don't worry, but it'll be awhile before I get back."

Dawn's voice already seemed happier, but there was still traces of concern when she started asking questions.

"Where are you? What do you mean complications? Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm..." the blonde thought for a moment. "Where I am isn't important. The point is, I'm okay and I'll be home soon. Is Willow there?"

"Yeah," Dawn replied. "It's Saturday, so no school for her. Or me." Buffy could practically hear the evil grin on her face.

"Ok, good, good," she replied. "Don't leave without telling her where you're going. And tell her what's what with me. Stay safe, Dawn. Love you."

"Bye," Dawn said. Then the line went dead. Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. Dawn was fine. Willow was fine. They knew where she was. Now she just had to grab some things from the crypt and go home, right?

* * *

As the door opened and light flooded once again into the crypt, Buffy's eyes fell on the vampire waiting there.

"I've gotta go home now," she told him. She watched as his face fell. As soon as he realized he was being watched, of course, he recovered.

"Oh," he said simply. "Right. Um, figured you'd have to leave soon. If you, uh, need anything, then-"

"Yeah," she said, cutting him. She breathed a shaky sigh. "I'll... let you know."

"Right."

"Good."

"Okay."

Silence.

Then their lips were meeting and Buffy was confused and she kind of liked it and things were moving quickly and she realized what was happening. Breaking away, she began trying to catch her breath.

"I should- I should go."

She hurried out as quickly as she could and started home. _Well this complicates things, _she thought. Everything in her mind was jumbled. She hadn't wanted to kiss him. Well, she thought she hadn't wanted to. But everything just felt weird and wrong and confusing and she just wasn't sure what to do. Maybe avoid him for the rest of her life. But she knew what was bound to happen next. She knew he wasn't going to leave her alone until she told him what that was about. But she didn't want to tell him. It didn't mean anything right? Did it have to mean something? Her thoughts were interrupted when she realized she'd reached her house.

She stepped into the front door, not sure what was going to happen next.


End file.
